Consumers' behavior in quantitative microbial risk assessment for pathogens in raw milk: Incorporation of the likelihood of consumption as a function of storage time and temperature

Foodborne disease as a result of raw milk consumption is an increasing concern in Western countries. Quantitative microbial risk assessment models have been used to estimate the risk of illness due to different pathogens in raw milk. In these models, the duration and temperature of storage before consumption have a critical influence in the final outcome of the simulations and are usually described and modeled as independent distributions in the consumer phase module. We hypothesize that this assumption can result in the computation, during simulations, of extreme scenarios that ultimately lead to an overestimation of the risk. In this study, a sensorial analysis was conducted to replicate consumers' behavior. The results of the analysis were used to establish, by means of a logistic model, the relationship between time\u2013temperature combinations and the probability that a serving of raw milk is actually consumed. To assess our hypothesis, 2 recently published quantitative microbial risk assessment models quantifying the risks of listeriosis and salmonellosis related to the consumption of raw milk were implemented. First, the default settings described in the publications were kept; second, the likelihood of consumption as a function of the length and temperature of storage was included. When results were compared, the density of computed extreme scenarios decreased significantly in the modified model; consequently, the probability of illness and the expected number of cases per year also decreased. Reductions of 11.6 and 12.7% in the proportion of computed scenarios in which a contaminated milk serving was consumed were observed for the first and the second study, respectively. Our results confirm that overlooking the time\u2013temperature dependency may yield to an important overestimation of the risk. Furthermore, we provide estimates of this dependency that could easily be implemented in future quantitative microbial risk assessment models of raw milk pathogens

Prevalence of Golden retriever in European dogs with lymphoma: preliminary data

Introduction. Canine breeds, being genetic clusters, are good models for studies on genetic predisposition. Golden retriever (GR) has been described with a high incidence of both lymphoma overall (19%) and T zone lymphoma (TZL, 40%) with differences in different geographical areas in US. This breed predisposition is confirmed in Japanese but not in European (EU) case series although specific studies are still lacking.Aim of the present study is to investigate the prevalence of GR in a huge case series of canine lymphomas from different EU countries and to compare prevalence of different subtypes with studies in extra-EU countries, in order to support a possible different genetic predisposition.Materials and methods. Signalment data on 1734 consecutive cases of canine lymphoma collected from 9 different European countries are retrospectively analysed. When subtypes are available, cases are furtherly separated in three subtype groups: 1) B-cell lymphoma, 2) T-cell lymphoma-high grade, 3) TZL. Odds ratio (OR) for different lymphoma subtypes are calculated in comparison with mixed breed population, considered as control.Results. Overall prevalence of GR is 5.19% (range 1.59-7.32%) of lymphoma cases and differs from that reported in American and Japanese caseloads. Prevalence slightly varies among EU countries and no subtypes predilection is found if compared with mixed breed. Concerning Italian cohort, GR is not predisposed to develop a lymphoma when normalized for the breed prevalence (OR=1.49, 95% confidence interval=0.87-2.55, p=0.14).Discussion. Prevalence of lymphoma in EU population of GR is much lower than that of US. No predisposition is identified in EU GR for TZL differently from US and Japan. Being genetic of European GR population quite different from American and Japanese ones this suggest a possible different genetic predisposition. Slight differences in GR lymphoma prevalence among European countries likely reflects different breed distribution rather than different genetic predisposition

Effect of Body Condition Score at Calving on Performance, Some Blood Parameters, and Milk Fatty Acid Composition in Dairy Cows

Effect of body condition score at calving and of change in body condition score on productive and reproductive performance, on lactation curve parameters, and on postpartum disease occurrence was investigated in 213 Italian Holstein-Friesian cows. Plasma FFA, glucose, and insulin concentrations and milk fatty acid composition were analyzed in 15 cows. The cows calving at highest body condition score lost more subcutaneous fat; condition score change did not exceed 1.05 units. Change in body condition score was positively associated with peak and total milk production. Occurrence of retained placenta was not related to the content of fat stores at calving. Glucose concentrations were relatively constant, FFA concentrations were highest, and insulin concentrations were lower in cows calving at the highest body condition score. Milk fatty acid composition reflected the different utilization of body fat stores

Genetic study of Murgese horse from genealogical data and microsatellites

The black or rarely roan Murgese is a mesomorph horse, mainly reared in Apulia, recently selected for the saddle. Thefirst official registry of Murgese was established in 1926. All the existing Murgese horses can be traced back to a smallnumber of founders (46 founder mares and 9 stallions). This work aims to monitor the genetic structure of the actualpopulation by analysing the available genealogical information from 2708 animals and a data-set containing 563 typingrecords of twelve microsatellites. Inbreeding coefficients were estimated for the whole sample and for the animals bornfrom 1992 to 1999. A total of 23 generations were found. The average inbreeding coefficient was 0.0165 for the last threegenerations, whereas inbreeding was below 2% in animals born in the 92-99 period. The contribution of founders wasunbalanced. The overall FIS coefficient estimation was 0.025 and suggests that mating is generally at random in the population.However, some statistics obtained from this study, i.e. the inbreeding coefficient higher than 0.015 in the 70 animalsof the 19th, 20th, and 21st generations, should induce breeders to more attention in planning mating

SARS-CoV-2 infection in fully vaccinated patients with multiple myeloma

No abstract availabl

Genetic and environmental effects on a meat spotting defect in seasoned dry-cured ham

Purpose of this investigation was to determine the nature of a visible spotting defect on the slice of dry-cured ham and assess environmental and genetic causes of this frequent problem. A group of 233 pigs from commercial cross-breeding lines, progeny of ten boars and forty seven sows, was raised in a single herd to obtain the “Italian Heavy Pig”, typically slaughtered at 160 ± 10 kg live weight and older than 9 months of age. A quality evaluation of their right dry-cured hams, seasoned according to the Parma P.D.O. protocol, was undertaken. Each ham was cross-sectioned to obtain a slice of Semimembranosus, Semitendinosus and Biceps Femoris muscles. The focused phenotype was the presence/absence of brownish spots in these muscles, which represent a remarkable meat defect with strong impact on the final sale price. Environmental and management factors were considered in order to evaluate variability related to the phenotype. Animals were raised on two different flooring types (concrete and slatted floor) and a Vitamin C diet was also supplemented in the last 45 days before slaughtering to half of the animals. While the pre-planned environmental effects did not show any significant contribution to the total variability of the phenotype, the genetic analysis showed a near to zero value for heritability with a consistent 0.32 repeatability. The proportion of the total phenotypic variance was explained by an important dominance genetic component (0.26) indicating that the technological seasoning process may play a secondary role on the expression of this phenotype

Unexpected Absence of Skeletal Responses to Dietary Magnesium Depletion: Basis for Future Perspectives?

It's known that a magnesium (Mg)-deficient diet is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis. The aim of this work is to investigate, by a histological approach, the effects of a Mg-deprived diet on the bone of 8-weeks-old C57BL/6J male mice. Treated and control mice were supplied with a Mg-deprived or normal diet for 8 weeks, respectively. Body weight, serum Mg concentration, expression of kidney magnesiotropic genes, and histomorphometry on L5 vertebrae, femurs, and tibiae were evaluated. Body weight gain and serum Mg concentration were significantly reduced, while a trend toward increase was found in gene expression in mice receiving the Mg-deficient diet, suggesting the onset of an adaptive response to Mg depletion. Histomorphometric parameters on the amount of trabecular and cortical bone, number of osteoclasts, and thickness of the growth plate in femoral distal and tibial proximal metaphyses did not differ between groups; these findings partially differ from most data present in the literature showing that animals fed a Mg-deprived diet develop bone loss and may be only in part explained by differences among the experimental protocols. However, the unexpected findings we recorded on bones could be attributed to genetic differences that may have developed after multiple generations of inbreeding

What Is New in the Treatment of Smoldering Multiple Myeloma?

Smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM), an asymptomatic plasma cell neoplasm, is currently diagnosed according to the updated IMWG criteria, which reflect an intermediate tumor mass between monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and active MM. However, SMM is a heterogeneous entity and individual case may go from an “MGUS-like” behavior to “early MM” with rapid transformation into symptomatic disease. This wide range of clinical outcomes poses challenges for prognostication and management of individual patients. However, initial studies showed a benefit in terms of progression or even survival for early treatment of high-risk SMM patients. While outside of clinical trials the conventional approach to SMM generally remains that of close observation, these studies raised the question of whether early treatment should be offered in high-risk patients, prompting evaluation of several different therapeutic approaches with different goals. While delay of progression to MM with a non-toxic treatment is clearly achievable by early treatment, a convincing survival benefit still needs to be proven by independent studies. Furthermore, if SMM is to be considered less biologically complex than MM, early treatment may offer the chance of cure that is currently not within reach of any active MM treatment. In this paper, we present updated results of completed or ongoing clinical trials in SMM treatment, highlighting areas of uncertainty and critical issues that will need to be addressed in the near future before the “watch and wait” paradigm in SMM is abandoned in favor of early treatmen

Evaluation of potential water storage capacity in the Rio Pequeno watershed, São José dos Pinhais, PR

 O presente trabalho demonstra a capacidade potencial de armazenamento de água da bacia hidrográfica do rio Pequeno, São José dos Pinhais, PR, que é uma região de crescente expansão urbana e industrial da Região Metropolitana de Curitiba. Com a análise da capacidade potencial de armazenamento de água da bacia hidrográfica, podem ser identificadas áreas com maior ou menor capacidade de recarga de aquíferos, auxiliando, dessa maneira, na implementação de políticas de desenvolvimento socioeconômicas. Para tanto, foi aplicada a metodologia de avaliação da capacidade potencial de armazenamento de água proposta por Chiaranda (2002), que consiste na análise e cruzamento, em ambiente de Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIG), de informações temáticas como geologia, geomorfologia, solo, cobertura vegetal original e usos dos solos nos anos de 1986, 1996 e 2007. No ano de 1986, a bacia apresentou 79,39; 49,38 e 1,68%, e em 2007 a bacia apresentou 74,10; 47,73 e 8,62% de sua área enquadrada nas classes de alta, média e baixa capacidade de armazenamento, respectivamente. Verificou-se que os usos da terra modificaram as características da capacidade potencial de armazenamento da bacia do rio Pequeno.Palavras-chave: Recursos hídricos; capacidade de armazenamento; hidrologia florestal. AbstractEvaluation of potential water storage capacity in the Rio Pequeno watershed, São José dos Pinhais, PR. This work demonstrates the potential water storage capacity of Rio Pequeno watershed, located in the municipality of São José dos Pinhais, in Paraná State, Brazil. The city is part of Curitiba Metropolitan Area and presents high urban and industrial development.The analysis of the Rio Pequeno watershed potential water storage capacity can identify areas of aquifers with higher or lower capacity to recharge, due to implementation of socioeconomic development policies. In order to that, it was applied the methodology of assessment of potential water storage capacity proposed by Chiaranda (2002). It consists in a Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis combined to different sources of information, such as geology, soil type, original plant cover and land uses. The methodology was applied to the years of 1986, 1996, and 2007. In 1986 the basin presented 79.39, 49.38, and 1.68%, in 2007 the basin presented 74.10, 47.73, and 8.62% of its framed area in classes of high, medium and low storage capacity, respectively. According to that, it was observed that land uses have changed the characteristics of potential water storage capacity of Rio Pequeno watershed. Keywords: Water resources; storage capacity; forest hydrology.AbstractThis work demonstrates the potential water storage capacity of Rio Pequeno watershed, located in the municipality of São José dos Pinhais, in Paraná State, Brazil. The city is part of Curitiba Metropolitan Area and presents high urban and industrial development.The analysis of the Rio Pequeno watershed potential water storage capacity can identify areas of aquifers with higher or lower capacity to recharge, due to implementation of socioeconomic development policies. In order to that, it was applied the methodology of assessment of potential water storage capacity proposed by Chiaranda (2002). It consists in a Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis combined to different sources of information, such as geology, soil type, original plant cover and land uses. The methodology was applied to the years of 1986, 1996, and 2007. In 1986 the basin presented 79.39, 49.38, and 1.68%, in 2007 the basin presented 74.10, 47.73, and 8.62% of its framed area in classes of high, medium and low storage capacity, respectively. According to that, it was observed that land uses have changed the characteristics of potential water storage capacity of Rio Pequeno watershed. Keywords: Water resources; storage capacity; forest hydrology

Increased Sensitivity of Computed Tomography Scan for Neoplastic Tissues Using the Extracellular Vesicle Formulation of the Contrast Agent Iohexol.

Computed tomography (CT) is a diagnostic medical imaging modality commonly used to detect disease and injury. Contrast agents containing iodine, such as iohexol, are frequently used in CT examinations to more clearly differentiate anatomic structures and to detect and characterize abnormalities, including tumors. However, these contrast agents do not have a specific tropism for cancer cells, so the ability to detect tumors is severely limited by the degree of vascularization of the tumor itself. Identifying delivery systems allowing enrichment of contrast agents at the tumor site would increase the sensitivity of detection of tumors and metastases, potentially in organs that are normally inaccessible to contrast agents, such as the CNS. Recent work from our laboratory has identified cancer patient-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) as effective delivery vehicles for targeting diagnostic drugs to patients' tumors. Based on this premise, we explored the possibility of introducing iohexol into PDEVs for targeted delivery to neoplastic tissue. Here, we provide preclinical proof-of-principle for the tumor-targeting ability of iohexol-loaded PDEVs, which resulted in an impressive accumulation of the contrast agent selectively into the neoplastic tissue, significantly improving the ability of the contrast agent to delineate tumor boundaries